Sunday, April 30, 2017

At the end of this year Disney's first animated feature Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs will be 80 years old. This movie manages to stay relevant as a personal statement by Walt Disney and his artists.As the look and feel of animated features has changed, Snow White keeps glowing as a reminder that there is such a thing as the ART of animation.When you do something so well, so wholeheartedly without compromise, then that piece of work is for the ages.

There are very few people who worked on this film that are still with us: Scene planner Ruthie Thompson, animator Don Lusk and live action reference model Marge Champion. I feel lucky to have met them all and even discussed their contribution to the film.This is Marge in full costume, getting ready to act out scenes for the animators. I love the black contours which help tracking her movements on film.

This cel set up might show its age with all those wrinkles, but as a piece of art it still looks astonishing!

A rare photostat of the Queen. I've always wondered how animator Art Babbit ended up with this assignment, since he had been known for very cartoony work like animating the character of Goofy.But he sure pulled it off, this queen is beautiful and ruthless at the same time.

A lot of the muted color palette for the film was inspired by designer Gustaf Tenggren.

"A life lived of choice is a life of conscious action. A life lived of chance is a life of unconscious creation." – Neale Donald Walsch We usually think of our brain as our greatest asset. It's what makes us human and allows us to grow and learn. However, the more we begin to understand the complex link between our psychology and our physiology, the more we start to see that a lot of the time, our brains are actually holding us back. This is because we live in a world vastly different from the one our brains evolved in. As a result, we can have a number of issues with things such as confidence, anxiety and even just rational decision making. Fortunately, by taking a clear look at ways in which our brains might be holding us back, we can start to develop and utilize the more rational parts of our mind, and free ourselves from these barriers. Here are three common ways your brain might be holding you back (and what to do about them).

Self-judgement Fatigue

Self-judgement fatigue occurs when we spend a disproportionate amount of time critically looking at ourselves and questioning out abilities. All the energy that could be invested towards completing a task is wasted on our own rumination. Key Takeaway: When you notice a self-judgement, label it as such, simply recognise that it's trying to help you (this is a key aspect of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy), but that it's a thought that is taking away your energy and is not necessary. From there try to make decisions with less hesitation, and direct your focus outwards towards a task as opposed to inwards towards yourself.

The Someday Fallacy

This is when we put too much reliance on our future self. The underlying belief here is that our future self will be more inspired to act than our current self. Unfortunately that's never really the case and most people live a life where their dreams get relegated to the 'someday pile.' Key Takeaway: Learn to take action now and not expect that your future self will take care of things for you. Assume that in the future there's a high probability that you'll be less likely to do something than you are now. One effective way to overcome the someday fallacy is to be meticulous with goal setting; tracking dates and milestones to measure your progress objectively and see where you've been putting things off.

Mood-congruent Memory Bias

This happens with all of us, almost all of the time, to varying degrees. There's an old saying "when it rains it pours" which basically means when things are good they're really good, but when things are bad they're really bad. However, this is actually a cognitive bias, rather than a statistical truth. The reason behind this is because when things are going well we're better able to retrieve memories related to other times when things were going well, however when things are going poorly, we tend to remember other times when things were going poorly. This is particularly dangerous for anyone who suffers from depression or bipolar disorders as they can get stuck in negative or manic cycles of thought as their mood colors their memories and therefore their experience. Key Takeaway: Keep a journal and track your moods and actions. Make it a habit to complete important tasks independently of how you feel. Whether you're motivated and inspired, or sick and tired, try to be as consistent as possible and not get swept up relying on your feelings for momentum. Attention Pick the Brain Readers!Would you like to learn more about how your mind is holding you back? Then take our FREE psycho-metric style personality quiz and receive feedback based on your psychological profile: How Well Do You Know Your Unconscious Mental Barriers?Ben Fishel is a freelance writer, and the creator of Project Monkey Mind – a blog that delves deep into psychology, spirituality, and the mind, and offers practical wisdom for the digital age.Don't forget to follow Project Monkey Mind on Facebook!

The last week of the April sketchbook, making notes about what I see on my route through the woods.

22nd April: Some bird notes. A few shapes of birds that I see regularly in the wood.

23rd April: Leaves from trees. Most trees are getting their leaves now. My tree knowledge is a bit sketchy so it seemed a good idea to make some notes from the leaves I have collected.

24th April: Tree shapes. I am thinking about some prints so a few thumbnails of possible designs. The weather had suddenly turned very cold so it was an opportunity to do some thinking inside rather than freezing outside.

25th April: Bugle, wild crab apple and groundsel. There is Bugle on one of the rides through the wood. I love these pretty plants and have the cultivated form in my garden. The hairyfooted flower bees love it!

26th April: Alder. Alnus glutinosa I knew very little about the alder tree before this week.Now I know a lot more now. There is a small grove of very tall and stately trees by the bird hide. Lovely tree.

27th April: Pendulous sedge. Up in the wood there are clumps of this growing by the path. They are in flower right now with very attractive nodding heads which scatter yellow pollen.

28th April: Piece of bark with accompanying woodlouse. I brought a piece of wormy bark back to draw. It had a resident woodlouse so I drew that too.

29th April: a Snail and some moth notes. Busy bank holiday Saturday so a few quick sketches of a large snail and some moths associated with the trees from the Spinney. I really like moths and have a moth trap which is due to come out as soon as it warms up a bit more.

30th April: Beech, an old twig with leaves and a new twig with emerging tiny concertina folded leaves waiting to unfold. I have learnt today that the name for trees retaining their leaves in winter, as the beech does, is called 'marcescence'. Fascinating. These beech twigs, one very new and one old, with last years twisted dried leaves, are from the same tree.

And that's it for April! I have a really busy May coming up, so not planning a daily notebook. But its a good and useful habit. Maybe…

A4 Sketchbook.. with a convenient 32 pages. Nice to finish a sketchbook for a change !

Artist and SAIC professor Pablo Garcia (previously) has added an update to his previous take on the two century old Camera Lucida, an optical device that allows you to trace images and scenes directly from life. The new version, NeoLucida XL, is similar to its predecessor, however with a much larger viewfinder. The prism inside the updated analog device remains the same size, while the larger mirror and glass make it much easier to draw the projected "ghost image." You can read more about the device on its Kickstarter page.